When Marcel Proust moved out of 102 Boulevard Haussmann in 1919 and relocated to 44 Rue Hamelin, the change had a significant impact on the final years of his life and his writing of In Search of Lost Time. Although the new apartment offered him a similar reclusive environment, the physical and emotional toll of the move—and his worsening health—deepened the urgency and introspective quality of his work.
At Rue Hamelin, Proust continued his marathon writing sessions, further intensifying his pace to complete his novel. Aware of his declining health, he felt pressured to bring his sprawling project to a conclusion. The move symbolized a kind of final chapter in his own life story, mirroring the themes of loss, memory, and time that he was exploring in his work. This sense of impending mortality sharpened his focus and added layers of poignancy and depth to his exploration of time’s passage and the evanescence of experience.
Proust completed significant revisions and additions to the final volumes of In Search of Lost Time at Rue Hamelin. The sense of physical displacement and the fading of his old world amplified the novel’s themes, emphasizing the fragility of life and memory. His last three years were marked by a feverish dedication to finishing his novel, transforming the small apartment at Rue Hamelin into a space where he channeled his remaining energy into the completion of his life’s work.
